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Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were delivered a special version of the RB20 car and as part of an exercise were allowed to destroy the unique sculpture! Watch the video above
Max Verstappen shone in the spring sunshine of the Japanese Grand Prix’s new early season slot with a victory that served as salutary reminder he is firmly on course for his fourth world championship, and on this form he looks all but unstoppable.
The race has moved from its traditional place at the back end of the calendar for the first time since it was first held here in 1987 and the date has coincided with the Japanese sakura – cherry blossom – season. The trees have adorned the track with a riot of pinks and whites, offering a colourful backdrop for amateur snappers in their hordes and TV producers alike. However, hopes that there would be a matching new bloom of competition on the track were all too swiftly and decisively dashed on the glorious figure‑of‑eight circuit.
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Very nice, everything just went really well,” he said after climbing from the cockpit. “Pit stops, the strategy, it couldn’t have been any better.” He had, it seemed, barely broken a sweat on what he described repeatedly as a “nice” drive. Not quite the gladiatorial triumph of a champion yelling “Are you not entertained?” that F1 is trying to sell to the recent surge in new fans.
If there is any jeopardy for the world champion at the moment, he is untroubled by it. “Whenever I needed to go faster I could, whenever I needed to look after my tyres, I could,” he said with the same calm, controlled and underwhelming understatement with which he dominated the race.
This was business as usual for Verstappen, and with a decidedly ominous air. Four races of a record 24‑race season have been completed, the remaining 20 stretch long into the year and whereas for Verstappen this will have the pleasing trappings of a victory march, or a nice stroll as he might prefer it, it looks like something of a long old slog for his rivals.
The Red Bull driver comfortably beat his teammate, Sergio Pérez, into second place with a 12.5sec advantage in a race red-flagged on the first lap after Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon tangled on entering turn three, leaving both in the wall. After very heavy, dramatic impacts both drivers emerged unhurt.
